By Harrison Pray, Valley News Live
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – Fargo firefighters are speaking out after the city commission voted last night to reallocate some of their funding.
“First of all, we weren’t invited to the table,” said the president of the Fargo Firefighters union.
It was a change firefighters didn’t see coming.
On Tuesday night, city staff provided an updated allocation plan for 2026 Public Safety Sales Tax expenditures. However, the updated plan removes some funding for public safety.
“The city wouldn’t even have this money if it wasn’t for the firefighters investing one hundred thousand dollars of their own money going door to door and campaigning on their behalf,” said Michelle Turnberg, Fargo City Commissioner.
Firefighters went door-to-door advocating for the plan to get approved in October 2024.
“We told them what they were going to get when they voted ‘yes’ on this, and that’s not what ended up happening,” said Guggisberg.
Turnberg was the only commissioner to vote against the new plan. She says the firefighters are only asking to be paid similarly to firefighters in other cities.
“They’re not asking to be the highest-paid firefighters in other cities,” said Turnberg.
Now, rather than larger raises, some of the money will be allocated to pay down debts on previously built stations.
“They saw a problem; they found a solution; they followed through and it passed,” said Turnberg.
Guggisberg says the plan puts them close to being paid like their peers, but not quite. He hopes adjustments can be made so firefighters are paid as he thinks they should be.
“We knew from the beginning that the city wasn’t going to give us a checkbook and tell us that we could spend it however we wanted. But we thought we would be invited to the table, and we weren’t,” said Guggisberg.
City officials also approved operating, capital, and personnel expenditures in 2025 and 2026. They authorized the collection of a one-quarter percent Public Safety Sales Tax, which went into effect in April 2025.
